Pete Janzen – KOS 2025 Avian Conservationist of the
Year
Pete Janzen grew up in Newton, KS
and graduated Cum Laude from Wichita State University in 1988. Professionally,
he has worked in retail sales of building materials and millwork in the Wichita
market since 1980. Pete’s interest in
birds culminated this year in the publication of The Guide to Kansas Birds
and Birding Hotspots, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded, by Pete Janzen
and Bob Gress published by The University Press of Kansas.
Pete has always been interested in
birds. As a child Pete even organized field trips with friends, driven by their
parents. His field trip organization skills have continued to develop and for
as long as members can remember he has either chaired, or served on Wichita
Audubon’s Field Trip Committee. He also
helped coordinate many of their popular extended field trips across the nation. For KOS he has been to the vast majority of
Spring Field Trips and has helped organize, or served as a field trip leader
for many of them. Pete has also led
field trips for birding festivals like Wings N Wetlands, and Audubon of
Kansas’s Lek Treks and Celebration of Cranes. When not leading birding outings for these
organizations he’s birding with friends or exploring solo. While recording nearly 7,000 eBird checklists
from Kansas, birders run into Pete across the state. Pete has birded every
county in Kansas multiple times and has recorded 150 or more species in nearly
all of them. Pete’s passion for birds is known to everyone who has ever spent
time with him!
When not birding, he is often
writing about birds. I know his dedication, organization and attention to
details personally and have been privileged to work with him on both editions
of The Guide to Kansas Birds and Birding Hotspots. For the past five years, the majority of his
free time has been spent churning out the 150,000-word text in this book. Pete
has also authored The Birds of Sedgwick County and Cheney Reservoir
published by KOS. His scientific and
popular papers have been published in the Kansas Ornithological Society Bulletin,
Oklahoma Ornithological Society Bulletin, Transactions of the Kansas Academy of
Science, Newsletter of the American Birding Association and Kansas! magazine. Nearly
all birders in Kansas know Pete through his frequent contributions to the
Kansas Birds Facebook group. He administers the Kansas Rare and Notable Birds
group and is also an administrator for the Kansas County Listers and Wichita
Audubon Society’s Facebook groups.
Pete’s willingness to share his
knowledge about birds has benefited both birders and birds. It is an honor to nominate Pete Janzen for
the 2025 Kansas Ornithological Society Avian Conservation of the Year.
Nominated by Bob Gress – 2008 KOS
Avian Conservationist of the Year